Personal Narrative: My Significant Events
My Significant Event
Angela Marshall
Professor Kenneth McClelland
Strayer University/Introduction to Psychology
July 18, 2014
Briefly describe your significant event (one to two [1-2] sentences). In 1993 I begin my journey to join the Marine Corps; two weeks before taking my oath I found out that I was 3 months pregnant with my son Brandon. This pregnancy would not only prevent me from joining the Marine Corps, but would also change my life dramatically.
Describe your event in terms of at least (2) different perspectives in psychology (e.g., behavioral, cognitive, psychodynamic, cultural/social, etc.) Once I reported my pregnancy to Marine recruiter he then advised me that it would delay my entry into the Marine Corps. …show more content…
The recruiter then advised me that once my son was born that I would need a guardian light assigned to my son. In a nut shell, since I was a single mother I would need to elect a person (i.e.: farther, grandma, aunt etc...) guardian light of my child; meaning I do not have custody of my child in the eyes of the USMC. The purpose was to ensure that the solider if needed for war would be unable to reject deployment due to having a child.
Signing over custody of my child was against everything on how I was raised and was not heard of regardless of the benefits of the situation. If you had a child you raised your child with no one assuming responsibility accept yourself. As my grandmother would say “God only gives you what you can handle” and “what doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger”. Perhaps joining the USMC was not the correct path for me, but it was the path that would allow me to get a college education. After making the decision not to join the USMC I knew then that the only way for me to succeed would be to work hard. By the age of 22 I had four little boys, a single mother, and a retail store manager.
The events above are described in a Cultural/Social perspective. Cultural/Multicultural/Social focuses on the role of social and cultural factors and especially on differences between cultural, ethnic, gender, and sexual preference, and racial groups (Baron & Kalsher, 2008). As the Cultural/Social perspectives had a huge part in my deciding factor on whether or not I would continue my journey into the Marine Corps after the birth of my son.
Over the next 14 years I would work hard and become successful in my chosen career path.
Dedicating my time away from work with my children ensuring that they excelled in school. Continuously reminding them over the next decade on how important their education was and how much it was needed to succeed in life and society. Although I had become successful in my career path, I still wanted and needed to go to college for more reasons than one. My reasons for attending college was clear, to lead the way for my boys, to further my career path, and to be happy and proud of myself for reaching and fulfilling my dream of going to college. Once my boys were all over the age of 12 years old I finally got my chance to return to school. I am proud to announce that in December 2013 I graduated with my Associates degree in Business Administration and in March of 2014 I will be graduating with my Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Human …show more content…
Resources.
The events above are described in a Developmental perspective. Developmental focuses on changes in behavior and cognitive processes over the life span (Baron & Kalsher, 2008). The developmental perspective shows that as years passed I evolved both in my career, and determination to succeed even against all odds. Raising my children emphasizing on how important education was, breaking the family circle of high school drop outs.
Describe what learning (e.g., classical, operant, etc.) may have resulted from your event, or arisen because of your event. Although I was unable to join the USMC due to my pregnancy, I elected to take the negative impact and turn it into a positive impact.
This type of learning is known as Operant conditioning means roughly changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement which is given after the desired response. The three types of operant that can follow behavior are: neutral operants, reinforces, and punishers. * Neutral operants are responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease the probability of a behavior being repeated. * Reinforces are responses from the environment that increases the probability of a behavior being repeated. Reinforces can be either positive or negative. * Punishers are responses from the environment that decrease the likelihood of behavior being repeated. Punishment weakens behavior.
The negative response from not being able to join the USMC, which was my key to college caused me to stay focus and push further in life. Ensuring not only would I go to college but so would my children, breaking the chain on uneducated person in our family. Allowing the opportunity for success in their future (McLeod, 2007, updated 2014).
Discuss why memory of the event you described may or may not be completely
accurate. My memory of this event may not be one hundred percent accurate due to what is known as the mood-dependent memory. Mood-dependent memory refers to the finding that what we remember while in a given mood may be determined, in part, by what we learned when previously in that same mood (Baron & Kalsher, Introduction to Psychology, 2008). In other words at the time the event took place I was upset, sad, and depressed causing my emotions to be over whelming sending my mind soaring in many different directions. Later in the future when I explain my story I am happy, excited, and proud of my accomplishments. With two different types of emotions and feelings this can cause some of my memories to be forgotten or misplaced in my brain; causing some areas of the event to be not completely accurate.
References
Baron, R. A., & Kalsher, M. J. (2008). Introduction to Psychology. In R. A. Baron, & M. J. Kalsher, Human Memory: How We Remember, Why We Forget (pp. 214-215). Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon .
Baron, R. A., & Kalsher, M. J. (2008). Psychology: What It Is....and What It Offers. In R. A. Baron, & M. J. Kalsher, Intoduction to Psychology (pp. 10-11). Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon.
McLeod, S. (2007, updated 2014). Skinner-Operant Conditioning . Retrieved from Simply Psychology: http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html#operant
Angela Marshall
Professor Kenneth McClelland
Strayer University/Introduction to Psychology
July 18, 2014
Briefly describe your significant event (one to two [1-2] sentences). In 1993 I begin my journey to join the Marine Corps; two weeks before taking my oath I found out that I was 3 months pregnant with my son Brandon. This pregnancy would not only prevent me from joining the Marine Corps, but would also change my life dramatically.
Describe your event in terms of at least (2) different perspectives in psychology (e.g., behavioral, cognitive, psychodynamic, cultural/social, etc.) Once I reported my pregnancy to Marine recruiter he then advised me that it would delay my entry into the Marine Corps. …show more content…
The recruiter then advised me that once my son was born that I would need a guardian light assigned to my son. In a nut shell, since I was a single mother I would need to elect a person (i.e.: farther, grandma, aunt etc...) guardian light of my child; meaning I do not have custody of my child in the eyes of the USMC. The purpose was to ensure that the solider if needed for war would be unable to reject deployment due to having a child.
Signing over custody of my child was against everything on how I was raised and was not heard of regardless of the benefits of the situation. If you had a child you raised your child with no one assuming responsibility accept yourself. As my grandmother would say “God only gives you what you can handle” and “what doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger”. Perhaps joining the USMC was not the correct path for me, but it was the path that would allow me to get a college education. After making the decision not to join the USMC I knew then that the only way for me to succeed would be to work hard. By the age of 22 I had four little boys, a single mother, and a retail store manager.
The events above are described in a Cultural/Social perspective. Cultural/Multicultural/Social focuses on the role of social and cultural factors and especially on differences between cultural, ethnic, gender, and sexual preference, and racial groups (Baron & Kalsher, 2008). As the Cultural/Social perspectives had a huge part in my deciding factor on whether or not I would continue my journey into the Marine Corps after the birth of my son.
Over the next 14 years I would work hard and become successful in my chosen career path.
Dedicating my time away from work with my children ensuring that they excelled in school. Continuously reminding them over the next decade on how important their education was and how much it was needed to succeed in life and society. Although I had become successful in my career path, I still wanted and needed to go to college for more reasons than one. My reasons for attending college was clear, to lead the way for my boys, to further my career path, and to be happy and proud of myself for reaching and fulfilling my dream of going to college. Once my boys were all over the age of 12 years old I finally got my chance to return to school. I am proud to announce that in December 2013 I graduated with my Associates degree in Business Administration and in March of 2014 I will be graduating with my Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Human …show more content…
Resources.
The events above are described in a Developmental perspective. Developmental focuses on changes in behavior and cognitive processes over the life span (Baron & Kalsher, 2008). The developmental perspective shows that as years passed I evolved both in my career, and determination to succeed even against all odds. Raising my children emphasizing on how important education was, breaking the family circle of high school drop outs.
Describe what learning (e.g., classical, operant, etc.) may have resulted from your event, or arisen because of your event. Although I was unable to join the USMC due to my pregnancy, I elected to take the negative impact and turn it into a positive impact.
This type of learning is known as Operant conditioning means roughly changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement which is given after the desired response. The three types of operant that can follow behavior are: neutral operants, reinforces, and punishers. * Neutral operants are responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease the probability of a behavior being repeated. * Reinforces are responses from the environment that increases the probability of a behavior being repeated. Reinforces can be either positive or negative. * Punishers are responses from the environment that decrease the likelihood of behavior being repeated. Punishment weakens behavior.
The negative response from not being able to join the USMC, which was my key to college caused me to stay focus and push further in life. Ensuring not only would I go to college but so would my children, breaking the chain on uneducated person in our family. Allowing the opportunity for success in their future (McLeod, 2007, updated 2014).
Discuss why memory of the event you described may or may not be completely
accurate. My memory of this event may not be one hundred percent accurate due to what is known as the mood-dependent memory. Mood-dependent memory refers to the finding that what we remember while in a given mood may be determined, in part, by what we learned when previously in that same mood (Baron & Kalsher, Introduction to Psychology, 2008). In other words at the time the event took place I was upset, sad, and depressed causing my emotions to be over whelming sending my mind soaring in many different directions. Later in the future when I explain my story I am happy, excited, and proud of my accomplishments. With two different types of emotions and feelings this can cause some of my memories to be forgotten or misplaced in my brain; causing some areas of the event to be not completely accurate.
References
Baron, R. A., & Kalsher, M. J. (2008). Introduction to Psychology. In R. A. Baron, & M. J. Kalsher, Human Memory: How We Remember, Why We Forget (pp. 214-215). Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon .
Baron, R. A., & Kalsher, M. J. (2008). Psychology: What It Is....and What It Offers. In R. A. Baron, & M. J. Kalsher, Intoduction to Psychology (pp. 10-11). Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon.
McLeod, S. (2007, updated 2014). Skinner-Operant Conditioning . Retrieved from Simply Psychology: http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html#operant